A young filly named Fluttershy is working as a waitress in a tea shop when she is harassed by a band of diamond dogs. She is saved by Rainbow Dash, a mysterious pegasus, and Applejack, a young earth pony. Dash attacks Applejack after she proves to be a worthy opponent and as they begin fighting one another, they inadvertently cause the death of the magistrate's son, and are to be executed. With help from Fluttershy, they escape and she asks them to travel with her to find "the samurai with the cutie mark of sunflowers," a mysterious pony Fluttershy can give little description of, but whom she insists she must find, as she thinks he's her long lost father. They agree to join her, with Fluttershy setting the condition that they are not to duel one another until the journey is done.